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Postcard From Europe: Enjoying La Dolce Vita via Fiat's 500

September 12, 2011

A modern Fiat 500 was a good choice for the Italian Grand Prix weekend at Monza. Photo by ANTHONY PEACOCK

The Germans claim to have invented the automobile, but it's hard to argue against Italy as the spiritual home of motoring. That hit home last weekend, thanks to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The circuit is the fastest on the Formula One calendar, with an average lap speed of 155 mph and a top speed of more than 200 mph.

Somewhat ironically, I decided to use one of the slowest cars on the market to get to Monza this year: Fiat's 500, a car that has formed an iconic part of the Italian motoring landscape since 1957 and now lives again.

Volkswagen had its Beetle; Fiat had its mouse. Fiat designed the original 500 as the direct successor to the Fiat Topolino (Italian for "little mouse") to bring mobility to the masses during a period of postwar austerity. Fiat produced the "Nuova 500" (as it was called at its launch) for 18 years before the last car rolled off the assembly line in 1975. That 500 now sits in the Fiat collection in Turin, next to the very first car off the line.

Thirty-two years later, the "Cinquecento" lives again with a modern interpretation of the classic. Unlike the new Beetle, though--which has the aesthetic charm of a Jell-O mold combined with the personality of a tax accountant--the reinvented Fiat 500 maintains the exact spirit of the original, as well as similar looks, from the swathe of body-colored dashboard with a retro central circular instrument cluster to the chrome-ringed round lights on the outside.

It's particularly reminiscent of the old 500 in rosso corsa red, like my rental car, which conjures images of cruising through Tuscan countryside with Claudia Cardinale in a polka-dot dress, like a fantasy scene from La Dolce Vita frozen in time.

Like many of us, the 500 has grown larger over the years--you could clean the inside of the original car's rear window without moving from the driver's seat--but it is still one of the smallest cars you can buy today, meaning that it can park in seemingly impossible places. Even in Monza, during Italian Grand Prix weekend.

But the biggest way in which the original's legacy lives on is in the way that its successor drives.

You might have read all about the sporting model in the Fiat 500 range: the "muscular" Abarth, powered by a 1.4-liter turbocharged engine. But forget that: the ride is too choppy, the sport seats are too big, and there is torque steer from here to eternity as the beleaguered front wheels attempt to put 133 hp down onto the blacktop.

The best-selling version of the new 500 is the 1.2 base car, delivering 68 hp and 99 mph (contrast that with the basic original 479-cc "Nuova 500," which produced 13 hp).

This Ferrari red 500 is not a quick car, but so far it's one of the highlights of my year. It's all about being in the right place in the right time, and battling through the Vespas on crowded city streets in Milan, before heading into the dappled sunlight of an Italian evening, Eros Ramazzoti on the radio, en route to the hallowed ground of Monza is definitely the right place at the right time.

The engine thrives on revs and the handling encourages delinquency. And I think it is quite pretty, too. In fact, it would be no surprise to discover that this particular Fiat runs on spaghetti rather than gasoline.